Revenge
by Never Once
Summary: What happened to Evil Queen Regina  that made her hate Snow White so much? The loss of a lover and child can cause many things.
1. Chapter 1

Revenge

Chapter One

She hides amongst the flowers as if petals and leaves can make her invisible. I laugh and sneak along the stone path, poking her from behind.

She nearly jumps out of her skin and hits me playfully on the shoulder. "Don't do that."

I laugh and sit down at our small tea table. She places another flower in the overflowing vase and sits next to me.

"Tell me more about the baby."

I smile and rub my hand over my stomach- five months. "I don't know if it's a boy or girl yet. They say mothers get instincts, but mine hasn't kicked in yet. I hope it'll be a girl." I do not add that despite this darling girl next to me, I want a biological daughter, to love as mine.

"Father wants a boy. He always has. One that he can do manly things with. Hunting and riding. But he's too old to go for long rides and he hates hunting even though he pretends not to." She rolls her eyes. "It's absurd."

We both laugh and we sound like two bells, ringing together merrily. "I want to give him what he wants. He'd be extremely happy if I gave him a son."

We are only ten years apart. The girl sitting across from me is twenty years old, but lives with her father dutifully. I am thirty and it seems shameful to have a husband that not only already has a child, but one close to me in age. But he waited so long to get married and he wanted a young wife and so here we are: Snow White and Regina: more sisters than mother and daughter.

"Will you allow it to call me its sister? Or is that too much to ask?"

I think. My husband would be overjoyed if our child ran around calling Snow his or her sister. I would like the child to grow up in happiness. But the girl across from me will be so much older. And then we will have to explain about the death of her real mother.

"Perhaps we will start with the baby calling you Snow." I say, an offering of possibility.

She nods and smiles. We pause and listen to the birds singing their love songs to one another. I used to sit by my window and listen to the birds every chance. They flew right to my apple tree. I would pretend they were singing to me in a secret language, delivering a secret message from a secret lover.

"Regina?"

I am brought from my memories by how timid she sounds. "Yes?"

"May I ask you something- womanly?"

I swallow. I thought that having an older step daughter would mean she would have no feminine questions. She would already be fully developed and no need to explain bleedings or corsets or anything. But I nod. It obviously takes courage for her to even say the word 'womanly' to me.

"Of course. What's wrong?" I do not want to think ill of her, but if she's pregnant. . .

"What is," She pauses, obviously not wanting to say a word, "Physical love like?"

By the way she blushes and avoids my eyes, I can only infer one thing. "Do you mean sexual love Snow?"

She goes from pink to red. "Y-yes." She quickly jumps to defend her honor, even though she has lost none. "I'm twenty years old, I want to know what it's like for a man to hold you so- personally. I want to stay here with Father, because he really does love me and he'd be so lonely if I left, even though he does have you and he will have the baby. But I want to get married and see the world and- feel things."

I was _not _prepared for this. I found out nothing about anything sexual until I was married to my first husband. But, like her, I had lived only with my father. There was no woman in my life for me to ask about anything like marriage or children or sex. I had had some questions, but I felt there was no one I knew personally enough to ask.

I rest my hand on top of hers. "It's okay for you to ask. There's nothing shameful in wondering about things. You're growing older. Most girls your age are married and have at least one child." _Or have at least had a sexual experience._

She nods quickly, agreeing with my words that wondering does not make her any less honorable or innocent. "I couldn't ask Father. I would be embarrassed enough asking. He'd be even more embarrassed trying to answer. And he's a man so he wouldn't understand anyways. . ." Her voice trails off and she looks at me, her blush slowly retreating. "Could you tell me- something?"

I think. I am not speaking to a child. She's a woman, even if she's technically my daughter. But I'm sure she does _not _want details. Especially because she only knows that I've been married to her father and thinking of me doing things with her father would be awful. She'd blush every time she saw him.

"What do you want me to tell you?"

"Does it hurt the first time? And after that- what does it feel like when he kisses your neck or starts hinting that he wants to hold you in his arms with absolutely nothing separating you?" The blush crawls back onto her cheeks. "You don't have to answer that second one."

"The first time does hurt. You can't do anything to prevent it- you're a woman. It's part of the deal. But after that, you'll enjoy it. You'll look forward to it. Having someone show his love for you with his entire being- it's absolutely magnificent." I feel horrible that the man I'm thinking of is not my first husband or my current husband.

"What's it like being pregnant? Doesn't it feel strange to have a living thing inside you- moving around and everything?"

She thinks this is my first child. "It's amazing. But feeling a baby kick inside your stomach is a feeling you just can't describe. Its feels strange, but in a wonderful way." I smile at her. "When you have children, you'll understand."

She nods and that it when I feel the first kick. It is soft and so I make no movement, acting like I'm just taking in the sound of the birds. But after several more times, the kicking becomes hard enough to feel from the outside. I place both my hands on my stomach, feeling for just a moment.

"Snow, feel this." I take her hand and place it on my stomach and when a punch greets her palm, she breaks into a smile.

"That does feel wonderful."

The baby calms down then. I want to tell her of my past, to lighten myself before this child is born into more secrecy than the last.

"I must tell you something Snow."

"What is it?" Her eyes tell me she has heard the seriousness in my voice. "Is something wrong with the baby?"

"No. But I want to tell you about myself before I married your father."

"Is it a bad story?" She asks quietly, as if I've scared her and perhaps I have.

"It is not a happy one."

She nods. "You can hold me to my word that whatever is said here I will not repeat."

I give her a small, thank you smile. "Alright then. When I was about your age, the first Ogre War had just started. The Duke of the Frontlands was searching for soldiers because so many fell the first few months. He came to my home and demanded I serve. My Father was old, though not nearly as old as he is now, but I couldn't leave him to run the mill alone. The Duke was extremely mad and later came back and attempted to burn our cottage down with us inside. He'd brought a knight with him, whose name was Cerys. Once he learned that a young girl and her elderly father was inside the house, he rescued us. And that is when I first fell in love with him." A soft smile touches my lips and I remember how considerate and gallant he'd been.

"Afterwards, the Duke asked if I would serve since I had nothing to stay home for. The soldiers were offered an income and with the mill gone, we had nothing. But Father was terrified to lose me and so he lied and claimed I could spin straw into gold, so he still needed me. Well, the Duke would not let such a gift go unnoticed. So he locked me in a tower with straw and said that if I didn't spin it into gold in three days' time, Father and I would be beheaded for the treason of lying to a duke. If my tale was true, I'd be married to his son."

She looks at me wide-eyed. "But you-you can't."

"That's why there's a story."

She nods for me to continue.

"A man came through the window of my tower on the second day. By that time, the guards had gone to the base of my tower steps because they thought my crying was annoying. I told him my situation and he promised that he would soon have the power to give me that gold, but for a price."

Her face screws into a question. "But locked in a tower, you'd have nothing."

"Exactly."

"But you're alive!" Her face becomes horrified. "Are you a witch?"

I hide my swallow of concern. Yes, I know magic, but that's beside the point of the story. "No. I paid him with something only men truly think about. In fact, I assume you have it now." Her eyes show she does not understand. "My virginity."

She gasps. "You paid him with- sex? What kind of sick man would ask for that? And-and how could you agree? You were to be married!"

My eyes snap to an angry brown. "I had nothing." I sneer, my voice dripping ice that she has never heard from me. If she has even heard it before, it was not directed at her. "I had absolutely nothing but my life and my virginity. I was not going to let that duke kill my father and me because I couldn't handle not being a virgin on my wedding night." I glare at her. "If someone kidnapped you and your father and your only choice was to pay with your lives or your body, which would you chose?"

She becomes defensive. "Father would negotiate. He works very well with people. And besides, everyone loves him. No one would do such a thing."

I become angrier. "_Never _assume that you don't have enemies. People might love your father- and it's true that they do- but not every soul on this earth does. A king is not loved by every person. It's impossible." I shake my head, trying to cool myself off. "Anyways, I chose my life. And that would have been fine, for I did marry the duke's son by force."

"Why wasn't it fine?"

"I got pregnant by that man in the tower. I had a son."

"He must've been so angry."

"Who?" Now I don't understand.

"Your husband- when you told him who fathered the baby."

I laugh. "You think I _told _him? His father, my father-in-law, would have killed me and Abel."

She looks shocked by this. "You just let him believe that the baby was his? How could you live with yourself?"

"Sometimes you must lie in order to keep your life. And I was not just in charge of my own life, I was in charge of Abel's too."

"You should've considered that before you agreed to have sex in that tower with that mysterious man."

The hormones in me are raging. "Don't you _dare _say that. The only reason I've alive today is because I chose to give him my body- _once_. I was young, how was I supposed to know those things? I didn't even understand what sex was when I conceived that child."

She is silent. "You were twenty, like me?"

"Yes."

"But if you were a miller's daughter, you should've been married by then. To bring more money to your father."

"I couldn't leave my father. It was much like your circumstance. You want to leave, but you can't."

"Oh."

"Exactly. Either way, right before Abel's first birthday, the plague hit. It took both my husband and my child."

"You were a widow at twenty-one?" Her eyes enlarge. "That must've been horrible."

I do not mention that in the years from then until I married her father, I stayed with a sorceress, my only friend at the time. I learned magic. Nothing evil or anything, just magic in general. It certainly wasn't fairy magic, but it was magic nonetheless.

"It was. I lived with a friend until I married your father." She smiles when I mention her father.

But then she screws up her face again. "Why are you telling me this?"

I put a hand on my stomach. "I don't want this child being born into such a horrible, secret history. I needed to unburden myself before this child too took on a burden it didn't deserve. And I wanted to teach you to be careful. When pushed to the brick of life and death, you will do _anything _to survive."

She nods, understands. "I understand."


	2. Chapter 2

Revenge

Chapter Two

I am strolling through the castle a month after I learn Regina's secret history. I am on my to Regina's room to tell her one of my own secrets. It seems only fair that if I now own part of her awful history, she deserves to know something of my past as well. Mine is not as dishonoring or bad as hers, but it is something I have told to no one. I have not trusted them enough. But if she trusts me, I can trust her.

I pause outside her room to knock. But the door is already cracked open. I peek in to make sure I will not disturb something. And apparently I would be.

Inside is a man, probably much closer to Regina's age than father. They are talking in rather hushed voices, but the hallway is quiet and if I concentrate, I can hear them.

"Of course the baby is yours. You think a man that old could father a child? The last time I slept with him was eight months ago."

He beams, apparently proud that he has helped my step mother be unfaithful. "I knew it was mine. When I heard our magnificent queen had conceived a child, my first thought was of that week."

That week? Does he mean the week father went to check on the ogres in the Frontlands? It was the only week they could've been together romantically.

She pushes him playfully. "Stop being so arrogant. I developed that plan."

He pulls her into a deep, romantic kiss and I blush, feeling that I am intruding on them. But I cannot leave now. Father has to know of what she's done.

"Cerys, stop it." She laughs softly when their lips break. He still holds her in his arms; the only thing keeping them apart is her six month pregnant belly. "Leopold comes to check on me every hour."

"That's ten minutes from now."

"What if he comes early?"

Now he laughs. "You're so worried. But I guess I should leave a margin for possibilities." He kisses her one last time. "Goodbye lovely."

She smiles in a way I have never seen her smile, even at Father, her own husband. I understand now what the difference is between lovers and someone else.

I do not realize fast enough that he is coming for the door. And when he opens it, the corner hits my forehead.

"Oh, princess, I'm terribly sorry." He pauses as he helps me up. "How long were you there?"

I glare at him. "Long enough, you dishonoring-"

"Snow." Her voice contains mild shock and true fear. "Cerys, go. I can handle this."

"But darling-"

"_Go_."

He releases my arm and flees down the hall.

She turns away from me. "Come inside dear. We need to talk."


	3. Chapter 3

Revenge

Chapter Three

She sits me down on one corner of her bed, while she sits at the other. She does not meet my eyes, merely watches the ground or her hands. Now and again she nervously rubs her stomach.

"What did you hear?"

"He fathered that." I nod my head at her stomach. "And he is the knight that saved you from the Duke's fire."

She bites her lip. "I suppose you'll tell your father now."

"Of course! I can't believe you've been to cruel as to let him believe-"

"I am _not _cruel. Your father is an _old man_ who has absolutely _no chance_ of fathering a child. I wanted to give him one and I shall."

"But it won't be his!"

"I'll let him believe that it is his for his own good. He's happier now than I've ever seen him."

I narrow my eyes. "You're going to lie to him just like you lied to your first husband."

She turns her face away from me. "You don't understand." Her voice is filled with tears and brokeness. "I loved him when he first rescued me. I couldn't be with him when I was married to my first husband. The Duke kept him far away. And when I went to live with my friend, we couldn't find each other. And then, when I came here, I could order any knight without question." She looks up at me, tears masking her pupils. "You don't understand what it's like to be separated from the only man who truly, truly loves you more than anything. And when you actually get a chance- a chance to be with him- you do it. You stop caring, at least for that little while, about whom you might hurt or what you might destroy. Because all you want to do is listen to your heart and be with that wonderful man that has been held from you for so long."

I remember Jordan and pity takes over my anger. "I do know what it's like, at least a little bit." She looks at me in confusion. "When I was sixteen, there was a Lord's son I met. Jordan." I smile softly, looking into the distance, away from her. "We were in love. We courted behind our father's backs because we were worried they'd disapprove. And then, on my seventeenth birthday, he proposed." My face becomes gleeful and sad at the same time. I look back at her, tears in my own eyes now. "He took me to the middle of the forest on horseback and there was a carpet spread with dozens of red roses. He knelt down and proposed right then and there, claiming how much he loved me and how he couldn't live without me." I pause for questions, but she stays silent, just watching me, wanting to know why the girl in front of her is not married and pregnant. "I told him no. Because no matter how much I loved him, my father meant more. At the time he was completely alone except for me." I harden, showing her that I do have strength. "You _can _be without the man you love. He truly, _truly _loved me with his entire being. And I truly wanted to listen to my heart and never be parted from him again. But I decided that I was strong enough to survive without him. I decided to be strong for father." I narrow my eyes. "Something _you _couldn't do."

The silence echoes in our ears and I wait for her to break down or at least apologize. But she doesn't. After a while, she asks only one question. "Where is he now?"

I look down, willing myself to hold back the tears. "Dead."

"Oh." She lets the silence return for just a moment. "Please don't tell your father. This is the first child I will actually get to keep. I know it's wrong to pretend it's his, but it would make him so happy. And I was unsure that I could actually conceive again. Please don't take this away from us." Her voice is teary and broken again and I am melted by the fact that she spoke of Father and her as 'us'.

And she is right. Informing him that the child he already loves so much is not even his- it would crush him. I smile at her. "We've exchanged our secrets. Father won't know of you unless I find out he knows of me."

She shakes her head. "I'm a woman of my word."

_Well, certainly not of your wedding vows. _"Very well. We're even."


	4. Chapter 4

Revenge

Chapter Four

I get the first contraction around tea time, out in the garden with Snow. I try to ignore it at first- it's so nice out and I do _not _want this beautiful day ruined by a painful birth. But once they start getting rather painful, I have to stop walking amongst the roses. Snow's reads the pain and concern on my face as if she were reading an all familiar book.

"The baby's coming." She states, not even a question. "We need to get the doctor, the midwives and alert Father. Come on."

She offers me her arm, but I shake my head. "They're not that bad yet. I probably won't be in full labor for at least another hour."

She looks at me skeptically until I at least sit down and she sits with me. She tries to distract me with things- possible child names, decorations, the child's first ball, when we'll announce the successful birth, who we will name god parents- but eventually I request her hand to squeeze and that is when she forces me to come inside. The first maid we find she orders to get the doctor and the midwives. A manservant nearby quickly offers to get Leopold, despite the fact that he's in an official kingdoms meeting and half the kings there will want to chop the poor boy's head off for disturbing them. But apparently it's an honor to carry the news that the queen is in labor and so he rushes away with a smile on his face.

They prepare everything wonderfully and Snow never lets got of my hand. Despite how helpful she is, I can see the terror on her face when she is not doing something. Between contractions I try to talk to her.

"Are you scared Snow?" I squeeze her hand and grit my teeth.

"Of what?" She's distracted by Leopold coming in, arguing with the doctor about something.

"Of childbirth."

"No, no not at all. I look forward to the children I'll have one day."

"Well, it looks like you're terrified of something." I grip her hand so hard it turns red when an especially painful contraction rips through me.

When I can breathe again, she answers. "I'm scared of losing you. I wasn't really here to feel the loss of not having Mother. But I've gotten to know you. You've been part of the family for two years now and it sounds like a short amount of time, but I love you so much. And I've been without a mother for so long and then you came and even though you're more of a sister, I look up to you like a mother. And if I lose you-"

"You can leave now Princess. Thank you for helping." The doctor comes over and shoos her away like a five year old child.

"No, I want her here." I demand, because now that her hand is out of mine, I have nothing to grip when the contractions get worse. I have nothing to do but throw a scream out of my throat, which brings over all the midwives, several maids, Snow, Leopold and the doctor.

Snow rushes back over to me and I feel horrible because the terror has returned to her eyes, even brighter than before. I have requested this young girl- who is a virgin and who has barely even experienced love of any kind except her father and Jordan- to be at my side. In her eyes I read that she does not want to be here. She wants to flee and run far into the acres of forest so that she cannot hear my screams and will not know if I (or the baby) live or die. But part of her- the clearer part- wants to hold my hand, smooth the hair away from my sweaty brow and tell me that I will be okay.

Leopold is still arguing with the doctor. "I will _not _have the Dark One present while my wife is in labor. God only _knows _what that man could do to her or the baby."

"But Sire, if something happens that puts the lives of your child and wife at risk, don't you want someone here that has the power to insure their safety?"

"_No_. I believe in the power of my God alone. The only reason I haven't outlawed sorcery is because the Dark One would kill me and take the throne if I did."

Snow stays by my side, never letting go of my hand. But when the contraction comes so hard that I not only squeeze the life out of her hand, but I scream too, they drop their words and rush back over.

"We'll have to see how much you've dilated." And the doctor takes charge of whatever I am not in charge of in this situation.

They banish the maids and try to get Leopold and Snow to leave too, but I refuse to allow them to take Snow and if his daughter is staying, so is Leopold. I heard he wasn't in the room when his wife died the first time. The regret must've been unbearable.

Eventually the doctor instructs me to push and I do, gripping the sheets because if I squeeze Snow's hand, she won't be able to use it anymore. But I reach a point where I get a horrible feeling I've only gotten once before. When Father and I were entrapped in our burning house, stuck in the very center, hearing the creak of an almost-giving-out ceiling, I got a hard knot of dread in my stomach that told me no matter what happened, I was going to die. And as I looked around me at the leaping flames and the heat causing Father to practically melt, I knew that I was going to burn to death. But Cerys intervened then, yet only by a miracle. I get that feeling now- a knot of dread deep inside me that screams I am not going to make it because despite everything, nature and God have chosen my fate. And this time, Cerys is not here to save me.

I start crying and Snow can somehow sense that these are not tears of pain, but tears of sorrow and of goodbye. She brushes them off my cheeks as softly as a butterfly landing.

"You're going to be fine. The doctor, the midwives, they're all here to keep you alive."

I look at her, the tears falling down my face and the pain not only in my body, but in my heart. I am going to leave this girl behind with nothing but a depressed father, horrible story, terrible secret and perhaps a baby that is in no way related to her. "I'm sorry." But I will not leave her without a goodbye. "I'm sorry, but I can tell. I feel it and nothing except a miracle could change it." I force a small, sad smile onto my face. "I love you." And then the feeling isn't just something in my gut. I can feel softness and the room brightens with a light that can only be heavenly.

"What? No, you can tell me that later. You're going to be fine. You have to be." The defiant strength completely leaves her and she starts crying too. "Don't leave me, please don't leave me."

"Snow, stop crying and listen to me." She snaps her head up. "If I die and the baby lives, you can tell your father. But only if you have tried everything and I mean even sorcery. If he doesn't want to keep it, give it to Cerys." Pain rips through me as the child demands to get out of my body, but the strength is in nothing but my voice.

"Push!" The doctor urges, practically screaming at me.

I grip Snow's hand and try, but I feel weak and already half gone. "I can't." I'm sobbing. "I can't."

Leopold comes and smooth's the hair away from my forehead. "You can't leave me darling. You can't leave me yet. Think of the baby. Be strong for her."

The small, sad smile returns. "It's a girl?"

He nods. "Yes."

"Will you- will you name her Rose?"

He kisses my forehead. "_We _will name her Rose."

Encouraged by him, I try to push again, but I feel numb and semi-lifeless. I fall back on the pillows, panting, while the doctor tries to convince Leopold that the Dark One is needed.

"Snow, I want you to burn my body and scatter my ashes amongst the roses. Name the baby Rose if she lives. Tell your father the truth if and only if I am truly dead and there is nothing even the Dark One can do to bring me back." More tears slip down my cheeks. "Tell him I'm sorry and that I love him. Tell him I was weak and foolish to ever do that to him."

Her eyes are tearing up again too. "If the Dark One asks for something, can I give it to him?"

"As long as you don't take the life of another." I feel the soft warmth spread throughout me. I let go of her hand and feel myself slipping away. The noise is fainter and there is almost no pain. "And don't give him anything relating to the baby."

"Of course. Regina?" Her words are a whisper and soon I can tell she is screaming my name, but I can't hear her at all. Leopold looks crushed and the doctor looks stressed. Then I don't even see them anymore. I've completely left the room and been swallowed by darkness.


	5. Chapter 5

Revenge

Chapter Five

"You have to! There's no other choice!" I yell at Father. "The Dark One is the only person who can bring her back now."

"I've told you." He looks pointedly at the doctor and me. "I will _not _encourage sorcery."

The tears overflow my eyes. "I want her back. She's the closet thing I've ever had to a mother and now, you're not even willing to _try _and keep her."

"Sire," The doctor steps forward, "The baby is halfway out. We could surgically operate, but I didn't bring my tools and due to how half the baby is out of her and half- the head- isn't, we couldn't operate without risking the babe's life extremely. Our only choice to save this child is if you call the Dark One and he appears in thirty minutes or less."

He looks at me, then the doctor, then the midwives and then his dead wife. There is still a chance that the child he assumes is his could live, even if his wife can't.

"No. She's in a happier place now; I won't bring her out of that."

"She told me to request the Dark One if she dies. That is her dying wish; do you want to honor it?" I ask. But he won't, it's obvious. "Fine. _I'll _send for the Dark One. Have the whole kingdom know that I support sorcery. If it gets Regina back, so be it."

I go to the door, ignoring Father's calls, and order for someone, anyone, to ride the fastest horse and demand the Dark One's presence. We sit in morbid silence, until, by some miracle, the manservant and the Dark One return in twenty minutes.

"And what is your request?" He asks in his voice that sends shivers down even the soldier's backs.

"Save my stepmother." I say, stepping in front of Father before he can order him out.

He smiles evilly. "It'll cost you something." He says in a sing-songy way.

"What's the price?"

He thinks and if I thought his last smile was evil, it was nothing compared to this one. "Something quite- precious."

"Tell me!"

He leans in towards me and whispers it through my curls and into my ear. "_Your virginity_."

I suck in my breath and remember the man Regina spoke of. He requested the exact same thing. And then I understand what she meant. If someone you love is in danger of death, you'll do _anything _for them. So I don't bargain, like I claimed I would.

I nod and say the final word. "Deal."

He laughs gleefully, then gets to work. Mixing things and creating a liquid that he then forces down Regina's throat. We wait, holding our breath is silence. She then starts coughing, eyes closed, but then her eyelids are ripped back in pain. She grabs the sheets and pushes and screams and I run over and the baby's head is free. The nearest midwife takes the crying, bloody child, cuts the cord and then goes to wash her off.

I smooth the hair back from her face. "I made the deal. I brought you back."

She smiles gratefully, but tears are still falling from her eyes. "Your father." She states simply, then gets her voice back. "Leopold didn't."

"He didn't what?"

"He didn't get the Dark One to bring me back."

"He hates sorcery."

She nods. "Of course. I should've known."

"Should've known what?"

"That he doesn't love me that much."


	6. Chapter 6

Revenge

Chapter Six

Leopold holds and hugs and kisses little Rose, calling her his over and over. I see the pain enter Snow's eyes- not only is he believing a lie, she's playing along. And then she looks at me and whispers 'I'm sorry'. Getting up, she instructs Leo to pass the baby to a midwife, instructing her not to let me hold her and then going to a corner with Leo.

She's not. She wouldn't. She promised.

"Snow!" I yell, but she ignores me. "Snow! Don't, please!"

Leo turns around in fury. It is too late now. "How _dare _you." He marches over to my side and stares down at me like I am nothing but a piece of dirt. "Do I mean that little to you? Do you put no honor on your wedding vows? And letting me believe such a thing- how did you justify it?" He shakes his head in disgust, then walks to the midwife. Taking little Rose, he leaves the room with Snow White at his heels.

"Snow! Leo!" I call, but they do not come back. I cry into my pillow and plead with God. "Please don't let them kill her. Please."


	7. Chapter 7

Revenge

Chapter Seven

When the doctor admits that I can walk, but shouldn't, I leave the bed. I half walk, half stumble through the halls, listening for baby cries or anything that will give away where Rose is. At last I hear her screams coming from Snow White's room.

"You told him." I shut the door and fall next to her on the bed.

Little Rose is waving her fists, kicking her feet and screaming loudly. Snow White is holding her tight, trying desperately to calm her down.

"Give her to me." I open my arms, but she looks at me skeptically.

"You'll take her and run."

I laugh, but I no longer sound like a bell. My heart has hardened to this girl. I should have never trusted her. "She's hungry and seeming as we don't have a cow and only pregnant women produce milk, I am the only option."

Defeated, she hands Rose over. There is an awkward silence between us. I breastfed Abel before and so this is nothing new to me, but having her there, trying not to watch me, makes me blush.

"I don't trust you anymore." I tell her, just to say something. "You've destroyed all the trust I've put into you." The hardness in my heart suddenly pours out. "I can't believe I ever loved you."

Her head snaps up and teary, angry eyes meet my gaze. "You can't say that. I was the one who made the deal that brought you back to life. Do you know what I'm giving him? My _virginity_."

I continue to glare at her. "And despite that, you gave me away. And now Leopold will take Rose and will probably kill Cerys. I will lose _everything_ I love."

"You'll still have me and Father."

I stand, about to leave, but look back at her one last time. "I don't love either of you anymore."

The door is kicked in by a group of guards with Leopold at their head. He takes Rose from me and when I lunge for my child, the guards' slap chains onto my wrists.

"How _dare _you." I sneer angrily. "How can you bear to embarrass me in front of these men? I'm your _wife_. You should-"

"You certainly don't _act _like my wife." He glares at me and it is the first time I have ever seen anger in his eyes. But I have hardened my heart to both him and his daughter. "Take her to the west tower and lock her there. Then I want you to find Cerys. Bring him to me- alive."

My heart cracks. There is only one reason why he would want Cerys brought in alive. Because he plans to kill him in front of me. As they drag me in chains to the tower, I try to harden my heart at the image of Cerys' death. But imagining a knife in his heart only makes me teary eyed.

"Here you are, _queen_." And they shove me into the chambers and leave, laughing.

Leopold hates me. Snow White hates me. The kingdom will hate me. Rose, if she is allowed to live, will one day hate me. And the moments before Cerys is killed, he will hate me too. My Father will be embarrassed by having a whore for a daughter, but he will not hate me. He is the only person I will be able to trust now, except myself. But I do not want to love anyone anymore. I loved Cerys, and so I was unfaithful to my husband, which earned me a dreadful secret and the risk of death for treason. I loved Snow White and so I entrusted her with that dreadful secret, which meant my husband discovered my affair and my lie. Perhaps I can still love Father, but if my sister-daughter can betray me, then so can he. I look at my reflection in the mirror and decide: I will not love anyone ever again.

Ϡ

I am locked in the tower for a month. Every day, I demand to see my child, my husband, even Snow White, just so that I can ask what is going on. If I manage to get them to come, they will answer none of my questions. The only time Snow White answers me is when she comes home after the shameful deal. I am the first one she runs to.

"I had to pay him." She comes into the room sobbing and falls at my knees, burying her face in my lap.

I have hardened my heart to love and compassion except towards Cerys, Father and Rose. But I break the hardness for this. I often wished I had had someone to cry to after I paid the Dark One too.

"It hurt, yes?" I ask and stroke the unruly curls on her head.

She nods and brings her crying eyes up. "It hurt more than natural, I'm sure of it. And now Father will want to know and how am I supposed to tell him? How am I supposed to tell my future husband? That I paid for the life of my horrible stepmother with my virginity. That will sound _wonderful_."

She then notices that I have gone still and cold. She called me her horrible stepmother. And I decide she is not worth my pity. It was her choice to pay for me with that. I stand up, forcing her off of my lap and she notices how I've lost all of the pregnancy weight.

"You're so- thin. Have you been eating properly?"

"I'm not pregnant anymore if you couldn't tell."

"But it's not just your stomach." She surveys me. "You've lost weight everywhere."

I wish she weren't so observant. "No, I haven't been eating properly. I've been waiting for the day they drag Cerys in here and kill him in front of me because _you_ couldn't keep your stupid little mouth shut."

And that is when the door bursts open and Leopold and his guards come in, dragging Cerys behind them.

"Snow, leave." Leopold says gruffly. "Now."

She curtsies and rushes away, probably feeling hurt because this is the first time in her life her father's been gruff with her. She was always his stupid little angel- the beacon of light that reminded him of his first _wonderful_ wife.

"Regina." Cerys says from the floor, lighting up at the sight of me. "How is the-"

A guard punches him in the face with his metal glove. "Shut up fool."

I look at Leopold, banishing all the tears. "Please don't do this. He's innocent, he doesn't deserve to die."

"Innocent?" He laughs, but not in a humorous way. "He helped you commit _adultery_. That's _treason _Regina. And the only justice for treason is death." He nods at a guard and then there's the flash of a blade and Cerys is bleeding, wide eyed with pain and shock. They remove his chains and drop him like he's nothing. "Let the two lovers have some final words." Leopold mocks.

I ignore him and fall to my knees beside my one true love. My white skirt turns crimson with his blood and I put my hand to his chest and the blood coats my fingers. "I promise, I didn't try to let this happen. That retched Snow White- she told Leopold and then he took our daughter and now he's taken you."

"It was a girl?" He smiles.

"I named her Rose."

"I love you Regina. I always have and I always will and maybe one day I'll see you again, but if I don't. . ." His words trail off and I press my hands to his face to see if he's dead yet, but he's not. "If I never see you again, just know that I planned to marry you. I had our whole life planned and it was perfect. I'm so sorry I never got to propose."

I kiss him, ignoring my shocked husband and the teasing guards. He lifts his hands and puts them to my sides and draws me closer to him and so we kiss several more times before I feel the breath leave his body and I am truly alone.

Ϡ

They drag me off of him, but I don't change clothes. His blood marks me and I look like a monster that just ripped apart her kill, but I don't care. Leopold glares at me, then turns and locks me once more in this tower. He'll forgive me eventually; he's too nice not too. But I will never forgive him for stealing my daughter and killing my lover.

I look in the mirror and take in the site of his blood. "I'll get my revenge." I promise his blood and the shell of my body. "I will wreak my revenge if it's the last thing I do."

THE END

Please review if you've been reading, but haven't reviewed yet, I'd like to know how I did. I hope you enjoyed it.

And again, I forgot the disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time or any of it's characters, those Cerys and Rose are my own creation.


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